For most of her set, we lost ourselves. Sure, we were at the Barbican, and this was Ganavya's biggest headline show to date. But as she set about showcasing her blend of spiritual jazz, Indian traditions and devotional music, mainly with songs from her free-flowing album Daughter of a Temple, the California-based singer and multi-instrumentalist — whose name means 'one who was born to spread music' — took us somewhere else.
"Love supreme, a love supreme," she intoned in her luminous voice, as harps cascaded, keys swelled and our minds drifted to faraway lands of misty sunrises and jagged mountains, of new possibilities and fresh hope. Like the morning ragas of Indian classical music, or the sonic cathedral building of John Coltrane — whose storied spiritual jazz classic Ganavya was riffing on here — it was a sound that elevated as it grounded. That plugged you back into yourself.
